1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of precision mounting of aircraft auxiliary equipment and, more particularly, to a system employing an aircraft inertial reference unit (IRU) with a remote IRU interface on precision locating tooling for alignment of the auxiliary equipment using the mounting brackets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Auxiliary equipment such as antennas and receiving equipment for various avionics and other subsystems is regularly attached to aircraft during assembly or as a retrofit. Many such systems require precise calibration with respect to overall aircraft heading and attitude for proper operation in the aircraft. Traditional methods of measuring the attitude and heading require expensive external tooling and typically require positioning of the aircraft with respect to an absolute reference. Such external tooling incorporates pitch and roll sensors, laser reflection systems or position receivers such as GPS devices which are expensive and require repetitive periodic tool certification and calibration. Further, the tools must often be aircraft model specific requiring extensive duplication and inventorying of tools. The components of these tools are often prone to damage due to their complexity.
It is therefore desirable to reduce the cost and complexity of interface tooling required for auxiliary equipment heading and attitude alignment. It is further desirable to make use of existing aircraft systems to accomplish alignment relative to those systems without the requirement for aircraft repositioning.